Wooster's Barbara Brooks to be featured on Animal Planet's 'Fatal Attractions' on Friday

By LYDIA GEHRING Living EditorPublished: February 17, 2013 4:00AM

WOOSTER -- Barbara Brooks's longtime love for big cats and her friendship with two of the most influential people who ever trained them will be highlighted in a new Animal Planet documentary set to air Friday.

The network's series "Fatal Attractions" will feature "Tiger Terror" on Friday, focusing on Brooks's lifelong friends, Ron and Joy Holiday, who were the founders of the world-famous "Cat Dancers" exotic animal show. Joy Holiday lost her life to one of her white tigers on Nov. 13, 1998, only a month after one of the featured performers in "Cat Dancers," Chuck Lizza, was killed by the same tiger.

Animal Planet decided to highlight "Cat Dancers" and wanted to talk with those who had been closest to the Holidays. Brooks was the logical choice -- she was at the Florida home of the couple when Joy was killed.

Brooks's friendship with the couple spans nearly five decades, when a chance encounter with the then-ballet performing Holidays led her to become acquainted with them both personally and professionally.

In 1966, Brooks spent a year as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. At the same time, the Holidays were dancing at Radio City in their own show. She quickly became friends with the couple, and soon after, started working for them as their publicist.

"We became very good friends right away," Brooks said. "They needed someone to be a front runner for them in New York and I was more than happy to do it. In the early '70s, Ron and Joy incorporated a black leopard, Alladin, into their act by combining their love of ballet and animals, becoming 'Cat Dancers.' That is when I had my first exotic animal training with Alladin."

Brooks was able to learn more and more from the Holidays through hands-on training with both tigers and leopards, and she started working with them at shows and circuses.

Their relationship blossomed over the years, and Brooks continued to work closely with the couple up until Joy's death.

Following Lizza's tragic demise, Brooks went to Florida to stay with the Holidays to help them move on and get past such a horrible experience.

Joy Holiday had decided to help with the afternoon feeding on Nov. 13, 1998 -- the last time she'd be sharing her life with her cats and her loved ones.

"She had gone outside and to the cages," Brooks recalls. "And then everything got really quiet. I all of a sudden heard this 'bang, bang, bang.' I immediately ran down the stairs and looked outside to see Ron and hear him say that Jupiter killed her."

Brooks said news helicopters immediately swarmed the property, and paramedics were quick to arrive, but there was nothing that could be done because Jupiter had fatally bitten Joy on the neck.

Fast forward 14 years to February 2012, when Brooks received a telephone call from Oxford Scientific Films in London. The production company had been contracted by Animal Planet to produce a segment for "Fatal Attractions," a show that focuses on teaching viewers why some are drawn to these powerful animals and why they choose to live with them, often with a fatal outcome, Brooks said.

Two months later, Brooks was boarding an airplane to Florida for an interview on her thoughts and feelings about being at the Cat Dancers Ranch when Jupiter killed Joy Holiday.

"I definitely had apprehensions about doing the interview," she said. "I was concerned they may embellish my story. But everyone involved was so respectful of me and what I said. I got more airtime than I expected to, and it was honestly the most professionally done thing I've ever worked on. I realized after I did the interview that I didn't have closure until I did this."

Animal Planet's "Fatal Attractions" featuring Brooks is scheduled to air on Friday at 9 p.m. Locally, Animal Planet is on Clear Picture channel No. 45. Check local listings for channels on other network providers.

Living editor Lydia Gehring may be reached at 330-287-1655 or living@the-daily-record.com. She's lgehringTDR on Twitter.